Reviews

Secret Invasion #8 ( of 8 ) — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Penciler: Leonil Francis Yu;  Inker: Mark Morales This seems to have both started and ended better than Final Crisis (assuming Final Crisis ever ends…), although FC had its moments in the middle, and SI bogged down there. This last episode, though, has plenty of slam-bang events, and the “Dark Reign” setup turns out to be much better than I had feared (although, geez, can’t we please, at some point, have an actual end to a story?). Yes, it went on too long, and the revelation of the fate … Continue reading →

X-Men: Noir #1 — Writer: Fred Van Lente;  Artist: Dennis Calero A rookie police officer (whose father is also a cop) and his older partner investigate the murder of a young woman in 1920s NYC; it’s slowly revealed that the system is corrupt, and that the city is actually controlled by the rookie’s father and his cronies. That’s a typical film noir plot; the “X-Men” part is that this is an Elseworlds story — or whatever the Marvel equivalent is — and that all the characters are familiar: the corpse is Jean Grey, while the rookie’s father, Magnus, is… well, … Continue reading →

Batman #681 — Writer: Grant Morrison;  Penciller: Tony Daniel;  Inker: Sandu Florea The end of Batman: R.I.P., and the “death” of Batman, or at least the disappearance of Bruce Wayne for a while. My initial reaction on paging through this was disappointment — that’s all there is? — and I’ll bet readers who come into it cold, buying it just for the “collectability,” will wonder what the hell is going on, too (hey, dude, it’s confusing — who are all these people? — and there isn’t even a body!). As usual with this writer, though, on a second reading I … Continue reading →

Thor: Man of War #1 (of 1) — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Penciller/Part One: Clay Mann;  Inker/Part One: Victor Olazaba;  Artist/ Part Two: Patrick Zircher This is the third of Fraction’s one-shots on the early days of Thor, and he’s presented in Young Butthead mode, fighting and kicking over both mortal and immortal anthills on the Nine Worlds, and generally trying to get Daddy Odin’s attention. As usual with Fraction, there are some good bits; the art, in both sections, is good at delivering both the dour Norse atmosphere and the mythological oomph that’s required.  And yet, the plotting and characterization … Continue reading →

Ambush Bug: Year None #4 (0f 6) — Plot/Pencils: Keith Giffen;  Dialogue: Robert Loren Fleming;  Inks: Al Milgrom Read it for the in-jokes; keep it for Giffen’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Archie parodies, the whole Mitsu Bishi manga thing, the fanboy argument about the relevance of trivia, and, definitely, any of the parts with the sock guy (especially “woggita-woggita-woggita” and “Oh, si! You are muy macho sock!”). The Goon #30 — Creator: Eric Powell Powell sometimes descends into self-parody (i.e., Satan’s Sodomy Baby), but when he’s on, as he’s been the last few issues, he delivers a smooth blend of action, drama and … Continue reading →